Restoring oceans by combining offshore contracted work with job opportunities for young adults /
Healthy oceans are essential for sustaining life on earth. Yet degraded marine and coastal ecosystems are threatening the livelihoods of coastal populations as well as the ocean’s capability to generate oxygen and store carbon. Moreover, they hamper efforts to implement climate change actions successfully. Ocean management is crucial and effective in restoring our oceans, yet there is a shortage of capacity to carry out such work at scale. The Sea Ranger Service (‘SRS’) is the first professional maritime ranger service that combines cost-effective and clean offshore services with ocean biodiversity restoration at scale. Young (unemployed) adults receive award-winning maritime training and are employed either as Sea Rangers or in other maritime jobs. Operating purpose-built zero-emission vessels, Sea Rangers implement monitoring, maintenance, survey and inspection tasks for governmental agencies and commercial clients. In close collaboration with 40+ organisations, 78 young adults were trained so far and offered job opportunities. With support from FASE, SRS was successful in raising its second financing round in H2 2021 to scale operations in the North Sea area and to expand the model internationally through a social franchising program.